First Look Review

Introduction

Battlegate Gamesí reputation precedes them and as such I donít think they need much of an introduction. While they donít produce controversial subjects, the products themselves tend to be controversial in our sphere for the varying quality with which they are produced and the near rock-bottom prices they sell for.

This review will focus on Battlegate Gamesí 1/35th scale rendition of the Heckler & Hock HK416 and the DTI Vector. I can no longer find the 416 set so I canít reference the product number.

As is already well-known, Battlegate Gamesí products come in a very nice metal tin that protects the resin very well. There werenít any other forms of protection, such as bubble wrap, used but each piece (12 in all) was placed in its own little zip-lock bag. These are the two sets I purchased:
DTI Vector (SKU: BGMG03)
HK416 (I think I bought the DEVRU version [SKU: BGMG91] but Iím not entirely sure)

Something to note is that Battlegate has the name of the Vector wrong. The Vector is currently produced by KRISS USA which was formerly Transformational Defense Industries or TDI. In their Super V set, Battlegate does have the current correct name for the KRISS Vector.

The Guns

While not quite what I was hoping for, the guns are OK. They arenít the best on detail or sharpness but they are not bad. They are solidly OK. On both sets, the pour blocks are very large and can be difficult to remove. On the Vector, I was very worried about breaking the stock off if I was too heavy-handed in removing the block. I wasnít as worried when removing the 416 because the stock is much chunkier.

Heckler & Koch HK416
The Heckler & Koch HK416 is an assault rifle/carbine designed by German firearms firm Heckler & Koch. The HK416 was designed at the request of the US Armyís Delta Force. The gun is based largely on the Colt M4 system but uses a H&K short-stroke gas piston system. The carbine is currently in use with 24 countries military including the USí JSOC, US Armyís Asymmetric Warfare Group and five battalions of the US Marine Corps as the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle.

The HK416 set from Battlegate includes 6 individually wrapped guns on large pour blocks. While on the real gun the stock is extendable, on this set the guns only come with the stock fully retracted which might be a problem when trying to model larger figures or figures with longer arms. The guns feature a molded in ACOG sight, suppressor, angled iron sights, a rail-mounted flashlight, MagPul Mag Assists and a M320 grenade launcher mounted on the bottom rail. The muzzle for the launcher is open, as are both ends of the ACOG sight and the small grip on the Mag Assists. The details on the entire gun are very, very soft though. The rails are molded as one solid line, like a railroad track, the magazine lack any sort of side detail and detail is just very lacking, On the M320, I think the designers misintrepreted the chamber opening depth and modeled it too deep. The muzzles of the guns are not hollow. There isnít even a small depression to allow for easy drill placement if the modeler wanted to open the muzzles up further. The shape of the gun looks good to me but I havenít checked it too closely. It measures up closely to the Trumpeter M4A1 (2nd gray gun from left to right; in order: BG HK416, Trumpeter M4A1, Meng M4A1 x2 from their Marines accessories set, BG Vector). My concern is that the 416 is the same length as the Trumpeter gun (to note on the Trumpeter gun, I replaced the stock with a printed stock I designed thatís fully extended). Overall I think this set has not been done very well. While it is nice that the gun-mounted accessories are present, the lack of and major softness of detail brings this set very low marks in my books.

DTI Vector/TDI Vector:
The Vector was developed by KRISS USA in spring of 2007, formally Transformational Defense Industries (TDI). It utilizes a delayed blowback recoil system to reduce recoil and muzzle climb. The Vector has undergone improvements and a new version, the Gen II, was unveiled in 2015. Currently, the gun is not officially in use with any major military or police force.

As with the 416 set, the Vector set contains 6 guns wrapped in little zip-locks. Oddly, 3 of them are molded in a darker resin. Unlike the 416 set, though, details are much crisper (although they are a bit soft) andÖ wellÖ there! The folding stock seems a bit fragile because itís so thin and so taking care while cutting the mold block off is a must. For some reason, there was a thin layer of resin on the bottom of the pistol grip of all six guns that appeared to be peeling off. It may be flash, it may not be flashÖ I leave it up to you. Iím not sure what it is but it can probably be sanded off. As on the 416 set, the muzzle is not hollowed. Interestingly, the magazine is canted at an odd angle going into the magazine well. This is incorrect as the magazine should enter the well at the same angle as the well sides. Also note that this set appears to have been 3D printed to obtain the masters. Print lines are visible in the resin. They are not very pronounced so it might not be that much of an issue. There is not that much included on the guns themselves this time around. All thatís Ďextraí are the standard iron sights and a fore grip. There is a tiny picatinny rail molded in and it actually looks like a rail too.

Unfortunately, the major glaring error that I can see is a size error. Battlegateís Vector is too large. The Vector represented by Battlegate is 24.3 (620 mm) inches in length. Thatís compared to a M4A1 with a fully extended stock which measures in at 33 inches. Unfortunately, Battlegateís representation of the Vector is nearly as long as the Trumpeter M4A1 with the extended stock. From my measurements, the 1/35 Vector is 25.68 mm long which translates to 898.8 mm 1/1. Iím not sure about the Meng offerings because they seem pretty short compared to unchanged Trumpeter guns (and yes I compared the gun with the changed stock and the regular Trumpeter guns and they are the same length). This leads me to believe that the Vector set is highly overscale. If not for the size issue, the Vector set could be a pretty good offering. While not the best in terms of detail crispness, it is much superior to the HK416 set. Unfortunately the set that I had the most hope for falls very short because of this major size issue on top of a few smaller issues that ultimately could have been disregarded. Nonetheless, if youíve been wanting a 1/35 KRISS Vector, this is the only manufacturer that offers one (actually two).

Conclusion

I wish I could say that these are great sets and you should go out and buy multiples right now. Unfortunately I canít. There are currently better offerings available for the HK416 and the Vector is just too large to be 1/35. Maybe 1/32; Iím not sure. The HK416 set is incredibly soft on detail and even missing some details that are included with most other modern offerings of other M4 platforms. Even though it is moderately well detailed and a better offering than the HK416 set, the Battlegate DTI/TDI Vector simply cannot be used in 1/35. It is just too large. These two sets are, I believe, another miss for Battlegate Games in the 1/35 category. But despite this, I believe that the sets can be improved. Because itís obvious that Battlegate 3D prints their masters, the designers could refine their CAD models, reprint the (hopefully) corrected masters, and then cast based off them. I sincerely hope that Battlegate will do this and improve their CAD models in the future.

SUMMARY

Highs: Interesting offerings. Combines the accessories with the guns. Vector is the only offering on the market. Good packagingLows: Very soft detail, major size issues, very minor print linesVerdict: Not recommended. Too many errors and issues.